


maggid

by awesomems



Series: passover 2020 / pesach 5780 challenge [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 1930s, Artist Steve Rogers, Gen, Jewish Bucky Barnes, Jewish Steve Rogers, Pesach | Passover, Seder Pesach | Passover Seder (Judaism), another family, the ocs are the levins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23607385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awesomems/pseuds/awesomems
Summary: Steve illustrates the Exodus.Maggid: The fifth step of the Passover Seder, maggid is the main storytelling part of the Seder, where the basic story of the Exodus is told and ritual items are explained.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers
Series: passover 2020 / pesach 5780 challenge [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1695439
Kudos: 10





	maggid

In the spring of 1932, Pesach I fell on a Thursday, and Steve and Bucky were walking home while Steve talked about a book he was reading, which Bucky had assumed was for class.

“―And, at this point, everyone thinks it was actually  _ John _ who killed―” 

“Woah!” Bucky interrupted. “No spoilers, I’m actually interested now.”

“Sorry, I thought you read it! Ms. Z. told me about it.” Ah, that made sense. English was Steve’s favorite subject (after art, of course, although the Depression had made it so his school shared an art teacher with two others, functionally rendering the class nonexistent), and it was obvious he was Ms. Z.’s favorite student, where the same could not be said about Bucky when he was in her class the previous year.

“You  _ know _ she didn’t like me,” he said. “It probably didn’t help that I don’t even like the subject she teaches.”

“It definitely didn’t help,” Steve agreed. “But please read it, then we can talk about it.” 

“You got it.”

“Hey, are we going to mine or yours?” Steve asked once the reached the street where they would make a left if they were heading to the Barnes household.

“Let’s go to mine, we might have to help my ma prep for the Seder tonight.”

Mrs. Barnes just shooed the boys away, so it could not be said that they didn’t try. 

“Kinda good that we’re not doing anything, ‘cause I wanted to show you something that I’ve been working on for the last few months…” Steve trailed off to dig around in his bag for his sketchbook.

“Wait, months? And I’m only now hearing about it?” He huffed in mock annoyance.

“I wanted it to be a surprise! Plus, it’s Passover related ― it would’ve been weird if I showed it to you earlier.” Bucky’s jaw dropped as he abandoned the pretense of exasperation when he saw what his best friend had been working on. 

On one page, scenes for five of the Ten Plagues ― blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, and livestock disease ― lie in sections of the page with the Pharaoh in the center, arms crossed, expression indicating his refusal to release the enslaved. On the next, a factory like the ones so many men and women in their neighborhood worked in, inspired by the first couple lines of the  _ maggid _ .  On the third was one of the most iconic scenes ― Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt, through the split sea. 

“Steve, this is…I can’t believe — Actually, I  _ can  _ believe you made these,” Bucky said, always the first one to applaud his work. “This is amazing, you’re amazing!” He enveloped Steve in an almost bone-crushing hug, 

“Thanks, Buck,” he wheezed. “Can you let me go?”

“Right. Sorry.” The smaller boy coughed, catching his breath. “Are you gonna show these to everyone tonight?” 

Steve laughed. “Are you crazy? No way.”

“Why not? You’re so good.”

“I don’t like showing my work to people, you know that.”

“I know, but… I don’t really have a good reason, so yeah, if you don’t want to show people, it’s your decision,” Bucky conceded. “It’s your art.”

Around the Seder table, everyone opened up their copies of the Haggadah for the  _ maggid _ , which Mr. Barnes started, “We were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. Had the Holy One not liberated our people from Egypt, then we, our children and our children's children,” he looked around at the kids at his table with kind eyes, “would still be enslaved.” 

At that line, Steve put up his factory scene for everyone to see, pointing out the details he wove in, like the Pharaoh as the factory foreman.

“ _ Im'yirtse Hashem _ , our children will not be slaves to the rich man,” said Mr. Levin. 

“Oh, no, they’re going to change the world,” Mrs. Barnes added. The parents went on about their aspirations, which was probably helped by the wine they’d already had. 

Bucky leaned over to whisper to Steve, “See? I told you you were good. You got our parents rambling about the  _ economy _ on Passover.”

“Yeah, well, it’s also about dreams, and, if you wanna get religious, there’s this part,” he pointed to the Vehi Sheamda section of the Haggadah, “where all these people and forces try to destroy us, and G-d keeps saving us? The Depression, capitalism, they’re just these same forces, and we’ll get through it.”

“ _ Im'yirtse Hashem _ .”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

>  ~~"hashem vil" lit. means "g-d wants" in yiddish (a language i do not speak, i used google translate from hebrew, so let me know if that's a mistake) and is used in the same context as phrases like "with g-d's help" or "g-d willing".~~
> 
> edit 6/5/20: "im'yirtse hashem" means "g-d willing" in yiddish, i found an actual yiddish dictionary so the translation is correct now.
> 
> kudos and comments are appreciated!


End file.
